After a surprise monsoon burst in the morning, we left Gilbert for Moab. The change in scenery interested me, because the landscape mostly resembled high desert with cacti. Then suddenly in the mountains of Tonto National Forest, ponderosa pines surrounded us (maybe in Star Valley?). It must be some particular weather pattern in the mountains that produces enough rain for the pines.
The city of Holbrook awaited us as we descended out of the mountains and before we entered Petrified Forest. But first: LUNCH. Holbrook is a quaint town that--from the presence of themed motels--likely survives on the tourist industry for nearby Petrified Forest. We saw two Mexican restaurant across from each other and went to the one that we thought might have tamales. We were wrong. Instead, we got nachos and chile rellenos. The food was super tasty, but judging solely on the clientele, my guess is that it wasn't as authentic as the place we stopped at in El Paso.
A finger-licking-good lunch later, we ventured into Petrified Forest. From the name, I expected to see stands of petrified trees. In reality, were quite a few petrified logs around the visitor center. Still educational, but maybe less visually impressive.
The theory is that 250 million years ago, a great storm caused many riverside trees to be uprooted and pulled downriver. They eventually became waterlogged and sank, whereafter layers of silt and soil covered them. Over time the river dried up and over lots and lots of time, minerals replaced the organic tree material to form stone replicas.
Also, dinosaur fossils have been found in the area. A+
We drove through the park and enjoyed the views, especially the lines in the formations that indicated successive layers over geologic eras. The clouds really cooperated for photos.
Back in the car and on our way north, I took to better preparing some prickly pear cacti cuttings for transport. These pads have serious pokies- the big thick ones for warding off consumers, and baby hairlike spikes to etch into the attacker's memory that it isn't worth it. (This stowaway spider knows where the most strategic hiding place is)
I took some nail clippers and neutralized the big pokies. Whereas these are durable and firmly attached to the cactus flesh, the evil baby pokies readily dislodge from the cactus to invisibly embed in the attacker's skin.
Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to perform this cactus surgery on my lap with minimal protection. I succeeded fairly well in preventing a major infestation in my skin, but not a 100%. And then I had the bright idea to use my teeth to remove a spike from my finger. This worked... but then said spike stuck into the nearest fleshy object: my tongue. I have never been so intimate with my tongue as when I combed through it to find the intruder. I removed additional spikes throughout the night, but I still feel like I have them all over my body (kinda like a heightened version of the sensation after getting a haircut). I even had a dream of them in my skin.
Like I said, those little pokies are there to etch into the memory of the attacker.
The road that we took to Four Corners winds north, back and forth between borders like a needle and thread sewing two patches together. Much of the area that we passed through is land set aside for American Indians, and it we found the names of places as well as the vistas interesting.
Finally at Four Corners, we straddled four states while taking a selfie. #MillenialSkills
Finally we arrived at Bruce and Vonda's (Paul's parents) house in Moab. They are delightful to visit with, and they had fresh peaches to munch on, so major bonus. Paul's twinner John was also there, and though I really only briefly met him at Bev and Paul's wedding, his twinny characteristics cast a strong air of familiarity.
THEN--and this may be the most important news of the day, folks--Whitney saw her first shooting star! As it was the peak night of the Perseid Meteor shower, we drove up into Arches National Park and laid on a blanket in a road turnout to observe the shower. Fortunately we saw like eight or nine in ten minutes because we were super tired and needed to go fuh-foy, nigh nigh.
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